Betts submerged in ‘Last Resort’

TV's Top 10: New Faces for Fall - Daisy Betts

The “Last Resort” pilot takes place almost entirely on a submarine, with Daisy Betts’ character Grace Shepard as its lieutenant.

But funnily enough, when an actual submarine visited the set in Hawaii, Betts wasn’t allowed on.

Created by Shawn Ryan (“The Shield”), “The Last Resort” is about a high-tech U.S. sub that ignores shady Pentagon orders to fire nuclear missles on Pakistan. For disobeying those orders, the sub has now become a target.

The crew survives and docks on a foreign island, determined to unravel this conspiracy. Grace is the strong-willed daughter of a government official back in Washington, D.C., who is completely out of the loop.

It was one of the first pilots Betts read, and though she went out for other projects, the show stuck with her. Then, when Andre Braugher was attached, she moved quickly.

“I like that it’s an experienced, professional cast. It won’t have a tendency to skew too soapy,” she says. “I don’t want to undervalue my intelligence. I want to know the female roles are empowered women.”

Betts spent a year on Australian soap opera “Out of the Blue” before landing a lead in NBC’s “Persons Unknown. “Last Resort” is Betts’ gamble at a see-how-things-go TV schedule — a legit crack at a behemoth network drama.

“There’s this barrier between movie stars,” she says. “You come into people’s homes on television, and people feel this connection to you. I want that.”